Equipment
by Jeretarius
Summary: Meliadoul and Mustadio reminisce about the first time they met.


-1_A big thanks to SerialRavist who beta read this for me and without his help this wouldn't be as nearly as good. _

Meliadoul sat next to the dancing fire; occasionally a pop would send a flurry of sparks into the night air. This was her second night with this diverse group of heretics she had joined. There were various conversations buzzing around the campfire. The young brunette girl, Rafa, Meliadoul recalled her name, was talking to Ramza about something she couldn't hear from her position on the other side of the fire. One quite obviously smitten with the other; the other in question seemly oblivious to it. Orlandu was trying to engage Malak in conversation. Though Malak responded to Orlandu's questions, he seemed rather distracted trying to keep an eye on the conversation between his sister and the object of her affection.

For the most part Meliadoul ignored them. Her eyes were fixed on the other female knight of the group. For the second night since Meliadoul had joined the group, Agrias was cleaning and sharpening her sword.

Meliadoul could never be accused of neglecting the tools of her trade, but cleaning a sword two days straight was unheard of, especially among the Divine Knights. If you had time to clean your sword that often, it might appear that you were vain, a sin that would be punished, most severely. Anytime spent beyond the mere care and maintenance of your weapon would be better spent in humble prayer and meditation before God.

Agrias didn't appear to be vain, so Meliadoul still couldn't figure her out. She knew it was just her imagination that the Holy Knight seemed to be eyeing her the past two nights when she had pulled it out. _Surely she isn't trying to goad me._

Finally she couldn't hold back any more. "You know that sword used to be mine."

A phantom of a smile flicked across Agrias' face. She looked down at Defender and ran the whetstone along the length of the blade before returning the gaze. "Really," she said as if she hadn't known the fact. "Well, perhaps you should take better care of your weapons."

Though her look was locked onto Agrias, Meliadoul couldn't help but notice out of the corner of her eye a young mechanic suddenly become much more interested in what Meliadoul could only describe as a pile of junk in front of him. Even in the warm glow of the fire she could also tell a little bit of red was creeping into his cheeks.

OoOoO

"…And now you will die! Not by any order of His Holiness. I do this for Izlude!" With that the battle started.

Mustadio loathed violence in general. And not for the first time he wondered how he'd gotten swept into his current situation, where battle seemed to be a day-in day-out occurrence. He was a engineer. He wasn't trained in the art of battle or assassination like his traveling partners. He was use to the quiet of his father's workshop or the delicate work of excavating the most current find in Goug.

Not that he was a slouch on the battlefield. He hadn't volunteered to join Rarmza just because of a sense of obligation after all the help Ramza had provided. And Ramza hadn't accepted him in just because he was a decent guy.

That didn't change the fact that he still hated bloodshed and killing. He only grew to detest it more when they were attacked by people under false pretenses. Mustadio had also learned from observing Ramza that trying to reason with these people was a lost cause. That, however, wouldn't stop Ramza from trying all the same.

That was probably one of the reason he followed Ramza, because battle was always a last resort. He always pleaded with their attackers to leave them be. Mustadio didn't believe that they would be able to convince the Divine Knight. After all, he had held one of the holy stones and would have called anyone who said such stones could be used to summon demons from the nether world either crazy or a liar.

While his friends charged forward to meet their assailants, Mustadio stood from his position in the back, loading his gun and making a tactical appraisal of the situation. _If nothing else this Meliadoul understands basic tactics_. She held the high ground. From there her squad of summoners and archers could rain holy hell down on them.

_However, _Mustadio leveled his sights on one of the archers, _having a long range weapon can level the playing field a little._

A loud blast rang out over the battlefield as Mustadio pulled the trigger. The archer stumbled backwards as the bullet found its mark. However, the bullet only had enough energy behind it to break the skin of the archer's stomach. From this distance Mustadio could barely make out the slow trickle that was turning the archer's shirt red. Mustadio started reloading.

A brilliant flash of light distracted Mustadio from his task. His eyes found the source just as the light was dissipating. Replacing it was an explosion of metal and at its epicenter was Agrias. She hit the ground with a thud even before the last pieces of her broken armor tinkled to the ground around her.

_Shit! _Mustadio made a mad dash to were Agrias lay, his weapon forgotten on the ground where he had stood. She looked a bloody mess. Pieces of her armor that hadn't been blown outward seemed to be imbedded in her body. Red circlets forming around the mangled pieces of shrapnel sticking out of her inner shirt Other pieces had traced a path along her face before being blown outward making her visage streaked with angry red cuts. Her hair forming a yellow halo around her head, the effect enhanced by the shattered pieces of her armor that now caught the sunlight.

Mustadio's pack was full of phoenix downs, but using it here would make Agrias easy picking for the archers. He grabbed her by the shoulders and started hauling her back towards one of the houses; towards cover.

She didn't weigh nearly as much as he imagined. Though, he speculated, the loss over her breastplate had lowered her weight quiet a bit. Even then he had no delusion that he might be able to pick her up.

Once in the shadow of the building he pulled out a phoenix down. Agrias's eyes winced closed even tighter as she came to. She ran her hand over her face getting most of the blood off her face. The cuts there quickly replaced the removed blood. Her eyes slowly opened, they were slightly dazed and vacant. Mustadio handed her a potion and went about removing the larger pieces of impeded shrapnel from her abdomen.

_She'd probably slap me for being this close to her breast, _Mustadio mused as he worked.

Agrias pulled the cork out of the potion with her teeth and spat it on the ground and quickly downed its contents. Mustadio could see through the cuts in her shirt that the gashes into her skin scabbed over with astonishing speed.

Agrias grabbed Mustadio's hand. At first he thought she was upset with him touching her, but he realized she wasn't just holding his hand, she was clasping it. He looked up into her eyes and saw her looking very intently at him. Even now the potion had caused the cuts on her face to scab over as well. Despite the scabs and blood he could see the beauty that was Agrias underneath it all. Now his cheeks blushed at the unintentional show of affection.

"I want you to get me that divine knight's sword."

"What?" Mustadio jerked back in shock, nearly pulled his hand from her grasp.

"I want that sword."

"Are you insane? Getting anywhere near her is a suicide mission." Mustadio knew he would do it; he would do anything just to see Agrias smile. Unfortunately, his attempts to do so usually had the opposite effect. She would scowl at him or even worse an exasperated sigh by his antics. But here was a chance; he could show her how he really felt. However, he didn't think getting himself killed was what she was looking for.

He paused. An idea started to form in his mind.

OoOoO

Meliadoul let a wicked grin spread across her face as Heretic Ramza let out a cry of surprise and pain as his sword exploded in his hand. He staggered back and hit his knees clutching the bloodied limb to his body.

_He'll no longer be a factor in this battle_, she thought. She could finish him now, however, the two white-clad companions of his were harassing her summoners, making it impossible for them to cast spells. She'd take care of them first. Once the battle was over she could enjoy the pleasure of killing Ramza Beoulve. Just one stab of her Defender to the back of his skull. A quick and easy death, unlike how he had dealt with her brother.

She was about to turn towards her summoners aid when she heard a screaming battle cry coming from her flank. She turned just in time to see a naked young man running towards her. The shock and surrealness of the moment caused her an instant of hesitation. In that instant the nude, crazed lunatic crashed into her at full speed.

A loud clang rung out as her armor hit the stony ground. She hadn't even been able to break her fall. She hit the ground at full force, causing her to lose her breath and her vision to blur for a moment. The momentum of the nude man caused them to roll across the ground. They stopped with her on the bottom and her assailant on top of her. Lucky her shield was pinned between the two of them acting like as a barrier between her and the youth, whose hands were franticly moving, grasping for something. Meliadoul wasn't about to wait and see if the boy was trying to undress her or what; nor did she have time to wonder where the crazy man came from or why he decided to wonder into her battlefield. Instead she used her shield to pry him away from her. But he was proving a lot harder to move than his size let on.

"Get off of me!" she shrieked. Their eyes met but for a moment, but in that moment she didn't see the usual look of a crazy man's eyes. Instead, they were all too lucid. All she saw was an intense look of determination. _Wait a minute, is he… sane? _But it was a silly question what kind of sane person goes running around naked in a war zone?

Finally, with both of her hands, she pushed the youth off of her. He sprang to his feet and started running in the opposite direction he came. It took her a second to notice he was using a sword to cover his backside as he ran away. Another second passed before she realized it was her Defender covering his posterior.

"Hey, that's my sword!"

OoOoO

The buzz of conversation continued around the roaring fire, but the silence between the three figures on the other side was deafening. The uncomfortable silence dragged on. Finally Mustadio chanced a look up at Meliadoul. Their eyes met and immediately his eyes were back at his newest repair job, his whole face now a nice shade of crimson.

"So," Meliadoul said breaking the silence, "was that a normal attack for you or what? I didn't see you use it against that zodiac demon, but I just want to know if there is anything I should brace myself for."

"No," Mustadio mumbled. "I just didn't want you breaking my things." _And killing me in the process._

"Do you think the divine knights spend time sitting around a table thinking of ways to break someone's underwear and then spend time learning it?"

"I suppose not," his voice was still barely audible. "but I wasn't about to find out, especially where it covers."

She snorted. "I suppose not. It's just my dad has similar skills and I just don't want another scene like that."

"Why?" Mustadio eyes lifted to meet hers. "Didn't you like what you saw?"

She laughed. "That's funny." _._

"It wasn't meant as a joke." He grumbled under his breath.

"Besides," Meliadoul said with a smile as she pulled out her Save the Queen and started to polish it. "I've seen better."

Mustadio's lips started to part to ask if she meant the sword or… But then he thought it better to keep quiet_._


End file.
